Synchronized swimming or artistic swimming is a sport where swimmers perform a synchronized choreographed routine, accompanied by music. The sport is governed internationally by World Aquatics. It has traditionally been a women's sport, although FINA introduced a new mixed gender duet competition that included one male swimmer in each duet at the 2015 World Aquatics Championships and LEN introduced men's individual events at the 2022 European Aquatics Championships. From 2024, men will be able to compete in the team event at the Olympics.
World Aquatics, formerly known as FINA, is the international federation recognised by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) for administering international competitions in water sports. It is one of several international federations which administer a given sport or discipline for both the IOC and the international community. It is based in Lausanne, Switzerland.
LEN is the European governing body for aquatic sports affiliated to World Aquatics — it is the Continental Association for Europe. It was formally organized in 1927 in Bologna, and since 2015 is headquartered in Nyon.
The World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25m), formerly known as the FINA World Swimming Championships (25m), also referred to as 'short course worlds', are an international swimming competition staged by the internationally recognized governing body of the sport, World Aquatics. The championships are staged in a 25m pool, referred to as short course format, and traditionally have been held biennially in alternate years to the World Aquatics Championships. Unlike the World Aquatics Championships, only swimming events are staged at these championships.
The 3rd FINA World Swimming Championships were an international swimming meet organized by FINA. It was held at the Scandinavium in Gothenburg, Sweden April 17−20, 1997; and featured 501 swimmers from 71 nations.
The 2001 World Aquatics Championships or the 9th FINA World Swimming Championships were held in Fukuoka, Japan between 16 July and 29 July 2001.
The 14th FINA World Championships were held on 16–31 July 2011 in Shanghai, China at the Shanghai Oriental Sports Center. The 2011 World Championships featured five aquatics disciplines: swimming, water polo, diving, open water, and synchronized swimming. At this championships, synchronized swimmer Natalia Ishchenko, of Russia, was the most decorated competitor winning all six gold medals of her events, at solo, duet and team routines. These championships served as qualifying stages for the 2012 Summer Olympics.
Thomas Lurz is a German swimmer who specializes in long-distance freestyle swimming, especially open water swimming. Lurz lives in Gerbrunn and swims for the SV Würzburg 05 sports club.
Francis Crippen was an American long-distance swimmer. After being a pool swimmer for most of his career, Crippen made the transition to open water swimming in 2006. In international competitions, Crippen won seven medals, five of which were in the open water and two in the pool. Crippen died during an open water swimming race in the United Arab Emirates in 2010 at the age of 26.
The Open Water Swimming events at the 8th FINA World Aquatics Championships were swum in the ocean off Perth, Western Australia on January 6 and 11, 1998. The discipline featured 4 events: a 5-kilometer race, or "5K", for males and females, and a 25-kilometer race (25K) for males and females. It was the first time the 5K was raced a World Championships. The races featured 80 swimmers from 26 nations.
The FINA Marathon Swim World Series, known as the 10 km Marathon Swimming World Cup until 2017, is a series of 10-kilometer, open water swimming races held annually since 2007. Prior to 2007, 10K races were held as part of the FINA's Open Water Grand Prix series; post split, this latter series is now for races over 10 kilometers in length. Prizes and points are awarded for each race in the series, with the points being added together for an overall point standing.
Haley Danita Anderson is an American competitive swimmer who is an Olympic silver medalist. She placed second in the 10-kilometer open water event at the 2012 Summer Olympics.
The 1st FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships were held on October 29-November 4, 2000 in the waters off Waikiki Beach in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA. 164 swimmers from 34 countries swam in the championships, in race distances of 5-kilometer (5K), 10-kilometer (10K) and 25-kilometer (25K).
The 4th FINA Open Water Swimming World Championships were held August 29-September 3, 2006 in Naples, Italy.
The 6th FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships was being held July 15–23, 2010 in Lac Saint-Jean near Roberval, Quebec, Canada.
Alexander Meyer is a former American competition swimmer who specialized in open water and long-distance swimming. He won a gold medal at the 2010 FINA World Open Water Swimming Championships in the 25-kilometer open water event. He was a member of the 2012 United States Olympic team, and placed tenth in the 10-kilometer open water event at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Alex won his final race before retirement, the 62nd Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean held on July 30, 2016.
The American team competed at the 2011 World Aquatics Championships in Shanghai, China from July 16 to July 31. The United States topped the gold medal count in the competition with 17 golds and finished the competition with 32 total medals, behind China's 36. 16 of the 17 gold medals came from the swimming competition and one came from the open water swimming competition. Individually, Michael Phelps won the most overall medals in the competition with seven. Ryan Lochte won the most gold medals among the male competitors with five and finished the competition with six medals total.
Ashley Grace Twichell is an American competition swimmer who specializes in long-distance freestyle and open-water events. She placed seventh in the 10 kilometer open water swim at the 2020 Summer Olympics. Twichell's age at her Olympic Games debut, 32 years of age, made her the oldest American swimmer first-timer at an Olympic Games since 1908.
The Palace of Water Sports is an indoor aquatics centre in Kazan, Tatarstan, Russia which was built for the 2013 Summer Universiade. Located on the banks of the Kazanka River, the competitions in synchronized swimming, diving, swimming and water polo took place here. It later hosted the diving events for the 2015 World Aquatics Championships. As of 2018, the facility was utilized by approximately 3,000 children per day.
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